7. I Wasnt Talking About Myself The God Complex
At the end of inconsequential monster-chasing Series 6 episode The God Complex, the eponymous God (a Minotaur which feeds on people's hopes) hints at the devastation the Doctor caused in the Time War. Matt Smith's Doctor is told in the closing minutes that death would be a gift for 'an ancient creature drenched in the blood of innocent,' and the Doc tells the minotaur to accept the gift and peacefully pass away. Before the beast does die though, he tells The Doctor 'I wasn't talking about myself'. Without referencing the conflict directly, here the excellent writing serves as reminder that the Doctor still carries difficult memories and multiple deaths on his conscience despite his wacky demeanour. 'The blood of innocents' here also reinforces the idea established in 'Rose' that the Time War and the Doctor's involvement in it, didn't just affect Time Lords but uninvolved planets too. Surely a heart-wrenching moment for The Doctor as well as the viewers of the special would be seeing these 'innocents' die as an unhappy by-product of his final solution to end the war.